Load information interaction method and device, processor and storage medium

ABSTRACT

Provided are a method and a device for load information interaction, a processor and a storage medium. The method includes: sending, by a first network node, a load request message to a second network node, where the load request message is used for indicating configuration information used by the second network node in reporting load information to the first network node; and receiving, by the first network node, the load information reported by the second network node according to the configuration information. The second network node and the first network node belong to different logical nodes in a network. The technical problem that load management cannot be performed when the second network node and the first network node belong to different logical nodes in related technology is solved, and the maximum performance of the network is fully exhibited.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. §120 as a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/825,980,filed Mar. 20, 2020, which claims the benefit of priority under 35U.S.C. § 120 as a continuation of PCT Patent Application No.PCT/CN2018/103913, filed on Sep. 4, 2018, which claims priority toChinese Patent Application No. 201710891695.0, filed on Sep. 27, 2017,the entire content of each of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to but is not limited to the field ofcommunications and, in particular, to a method and a device for loadinformation interaction, a processor and a storage medium.

BACKGROUND

As it enters the era of the fifth generation (5G) mobile communication,massive connections and user's requirements on higher data transmissionrate pose a great challenge to a transmission capacity of a commonpublic radio interface (CPRI) between a remote radio unit (RRU) and abaseband unit (BBU) in the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. Since theCPRI is used for transmitting in-phase quadrature (IQ) signals subjectedto physical layer coding and modulation and the like, which correspondto a massive digital bit stream rate, the CPRI has relatively highrequirements on bandwidth and transmission delay. When an air interfacerate of 5G has increased to tens of Gbps, transmission traffic of theCPRI interface may necessarily raise up to at least a Tbps level, whichpose tremendous pressure on deployment costs and difficulties offronthaul network interfaces.

Therefore, in a 5G new radio (NR) system, the manner to classifyfronthaul network interfaces needs to be redefined. For the manner toclassify fronthaul interfaces, various aspects such as transmissioncapacity, the transmission delay and deployment convenience need to beconsidered. For example, considering non-ideal fronthaul transmission,delay-insensitive network functions are implemented in a first networkelement such as a centralized unit (CU), delay-sensitive networkfunctions are implemented in a second network element such as adistributed unit (DU). The transmission between the first networkelement and the second network element is performed through an ideal ornon-ideal fronthaul network. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of aninterface between a first network element and a second network elementin related technology. However, in the related technology, only theinteraction when the control plane (CP) and the user plane (UP) in thefirst network element are not physically separated is considered.

SUMMARY

In view of this, embodiments of the present disclosure are expected toprovide a method and a device for load information interaction, aprocessor and a storage medium, when a second network node and a firstnetwork node belong to different logical nodes in a network, loadmanagement is able to be effectively performed.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for loadinformation interaction. The method includes: sending, by a firstnetwork node, a load request message to a second network node, where theload request message is used for indicating configuration informationused by the second network node in reporting load information to thefirst network node; receiving, by the first network node, the loadinformation reported by the second network node according to theconfiguration information; where the second network node and the firstnetwork node belong to different logical nodes in a network.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a method forload information interaction. The method includes: receiving, by asecond network node, a load request message from a first network node,where the load request message is used for indicating configurationinformation used by the second network node in reporting loadinformation to the first network node; receiving, by the second networknode, reported load information to the first network node according tothe configuration information; where the second network node and thefirst network node belong to different logical nodes in a network.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a device forload information interaction, applied to a first network node. Thedevice includes: a sending module, which is configured to send a loadrequest message to a second network node, where the load request messageis used for indicating configuration information used by the secondnetwork node in reporting load information to the first network node; areceiving module, which is configured to receive the load informationreported by the second network node according to the configurationinformation; where the second network node and the first network nodebelong to different logical nodes in a network.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a device forload information interaction device, applied to a second network node.The device includes: a receiving module, which is configured to receivea load request message sent by a first network node, wherein the loadrequest message is used for indicating configuration information used bythe second network node in reporting load information to the firstnetwork node; a reporting module, which is configured to report the loadinformation to the first network node according to the configurationinformation; where the second network node and the first network nodebelong to different logical nodes in a network.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a storagemedium. The storage medium which is configured to store program codesfor executing: sending a load request message to a second network node,where the load request message is used for indicating configurationinformation used by the second network node in reporting loadinformation to the first network node; receiving the load informationreported by the second network node according to the configurationinformation.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a storagemedium. The storage medium which is configured to store program codesfor executing: receiving a load request message sent by a first networknode, where the load request message is used for indicatingconfiguration information used by the second network node in reportingload information to the first network node; receiving, by the secondnetwork node, reported load information to the first network nodeaccording to the configuration information.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a processor.The processor is configured to execute programs, when executed, theprograms cause the method for load information interaction provided bythe embodiments of the present disclosure to be performed.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a device forload information interaction, including: a memory, which is configuredto store programs for tunnel grant information processing; and aprocessor, which is configured to execute the programs, where theprograms, when executed, perform the method for load informationinteraction according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

With the embodiments of the present disclosure, the first network nodesends the load request message to the second network node and receivesthe load information reported by the second network node, so that thetechnical problem that load management cannot be performed when thesecond network node and the first network node belong to differentlogical nodes in the related technology is solved, and the maximumperformance of the network is full exhibited.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an interface between a first networkelement and a second network element in related technology;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a method for load information interactionprovided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of another method for load information interactionprovided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a structural block diagram of a device for load informationinteraction provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a structural block diagram of another device for loadinformation interaction provided by an embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a relationship among a first networkelement (CP), a first network element (UP) and a second network elementprovided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a schematic flowchart of initialization of a traffic loadreporting initiated by a CP provided by an embodiment of the presentdisclosure; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a traffic load reporting provided byan embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure will be described hereinafter in detail withreference to the drawings and in conjunction with embodiments. It is tobe noted that if not in collision, the embodiments and features thereinin the present application can be combined with each other.

It is to be noted that the terms “first”, “second” and the like in thedescription, claims and above drawings of the present invention are usedto distinguish between similar objects and are not necessarily used todescribe a particular order or sequence.

Network architecture according to embodiments of the present disclosureincludes: a control plane and a user plane, where the control planeinteracts with the user plane.

An embodiment provides a method for load information interactionexecuted on the network architecture described above. FIG. 2 is aflowchart of a method for load information interaction according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2 , the methodincludes the steps described below.

In step S202, a first network node sends a load request message to asecond network node, where the load request message is used forindicating configuration information used by the second network node inreporting load information to the first network node.

In step S204, the first network node receives the load informationreported by the second network node according to the configurationinformation.

The second network node and the first network node belong to differentlogical nodes in a network.

Through the above steps, the first network node sends the load requestmessage to the second network node and receives the load informationreported by the second network node, so that the technical problem inthe related technology that load management cannot be performed when thesecond network node and the first network node belong to differentlogical nodes is solved, and the maximum performance of the network isfully exhibited.

In an embodiment, the execution body of the above steps, i.e., the firstnetwork element may be, but is not limited to, e.g., a control planenetwork element.

In an embodiment, after sending, by the first network node, the loadrequest message to the second network node, the method further includesone of: receiving, by the first network node, a load request responsemessage fed back by the second network node in response to the loadrequest message, where the load request response message is used forindicating that configuration information initialization is completed;or receiving, by the first network node, a load request failure messagefed back by the second network node in response to the load requestmessage, where the load request failure message is used for indicatingthat configuration information initialization fails.

In an embodiment, the load request response message carries one or moreof the following information: identification information of the firstnetwork node, identification information of the second network node, ameasurement ID, a measurement object list supported by the secondnetwork node, and a measurement object list not supported by the secondnetwork node. The load request failure message carries one or more ofthe following information: identification information of the firstnetwork node, identification information of the second network node, ameasurement ID, and a cause value for initialization failure.

In an embodiment, after the first network node receives the loadinformation reported by the second network node according to theconfiguration information, the method further includes at least one of:selecting, by the first network node, the second network node for anaccessing user equipment (UE) according to the load information; orperforming, by the first network node, a load balancing processing onconnected second network nodes according to the load information.

In an embodiment, the load request message carries at least one of thefollowing information: identification information of the first networknode, identification information of the second network node, indicationinformation for indicating a manner for reporting the load informationby the second network node, granularity information of the loadinformation that the second network node is requested to report, or aload object of the load information that the second network node isrequested to report.

In an embodiment, the indication information includes one of: periodicreporting, event-triggered reporting, and real-time reporting.

In an embodiment, the granularity information includes one of:node-level, cell-level, UE-level.

In an embodiment, the load object includes at least one of: a hardwareresource load status of the second network node, a NG-U interfacetransmission bandwidth occupation percentage, an F1-U interfacetransmission bandwidth occupation percentage, resource usage informationcorresponding to respective slices of a cell, a number of data resourcebearers (DRBs) of a terminal which are currently established by thesecond network node, a number of active users of the second networknode, or user traffic information.

In an embodiment, the first network node may be a network node in whichthe control plane is located, the second network node may be a networknode in which the user plane is located, and the control plane and theuser plane may be the control plane and the user plane of the samenetwork element or the control plane and the user plane of the samesystem, or the control plane and the user plane of different objects.

An embodiment provides another method for load information interaction.FIG. 3 is a flowchart of another method for load information interactionprovided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, the method includes the steps described below.

In step S302, a second network node receives a load request message froma first network node, where the load request message is used forindicating configuration information used by the second network node inreporting load information to the first network node.

In step S304: the second network node receives reported load informationto the first network node according to the configuration information.

The second network node and the first network node belong to differentlogical nodes in a network.

In an embodiment, the execution body of the above steps may be, but isnot limited to, e.g., a user plane network element.

In an embodiment, after the second network node receives the loadrequest message sent by the first network node, the method furtherincludes one of: feeding back, by the second network node, a loadrequest response message to the first network node, where the loadrequest response message is used for indicating that the configurationinformation initialization is completed; or feeding back, by the secondnetwork node, a load request failure message to the first network node,where the load request failure message is used for indicating that theconfiguration information initialization fails.

In an embodiment, the load request message carries at least one of thefollowing information: identification information of the first networknode, identification information of the second network node, ameasurement ID, indication information for indicating a manner forreporting the load information by the second network node, granularityinformation of the load information that the second network node isrequested to report, or a load object of the load information that thesecond network node is requested to report.

In an embodiment, the first network node may be a network node in whichthe control plane is located, the second network node may be a networknode in which the user plane is located, and the control plane and theuser plane may be the control plane and the user plane of the samenetwork element or the control plane and the user plane of the samesystem, or the control plane and the user plane of different objects.

From the description of the above-mentioned embodiments, it will beapparent to those skilled in the art that the method in the embodimentsdescribed above may be implemented by software plus a necessary generalhardware platform, or may of course be implemented by hardware. However,in many cases, the former is a preferred implementation manner. Based onthis understanding, the technical solution of the present disclosuresubstantially, or the part contributing to the existing art, may beembodied in the form of a software product. The computer softwareproduct is stored in a storage medium (such as a read-only memory(ROM)/random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk)and includes one or more instructions for enabling a terminal device(which may be a mobile phone, a computer, a server, a network device orthe like) to execute the method according to each embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a device forload information interaction. The device is configured to implement theabove-mentioned embodiments and preferred implementations. What has beendescribed will not be repeated. As used below, the term “module” may besoftware, hardware or a combination thereof capable of implementingpredetermined function. The device in the embodiment described below ispreferably implemented by software, but implementation by hardware or bya combination of software and hardware is also possible and conceived.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a device for load information interactionaccording to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The device isapplied to a first network node, as shown in FIG. 4 , the deviceincludes: a sending module 40, which is configured to send a loadrequest message to a second network node, where the load request messageis used for indicating configuration information used by the secondnetwork node in reporting load information to the first network node;and a receiving module 42, which is configured to receive the loadinformation reported by the second network node according to theconfiguration information.

The second network node and the first network node belong to differentlogical nodes in a network.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of another device for load informationinteraction according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Thedevice is applied to a second network node, as shown in FIG. 5 , thedevice includes: a receiving module 50, which is configured to receive aload request message sent by a first network node, where the loadrequest message is used for indicating configuration information used bythe second network node in reporting load information to the firstnetwork node; and a reporting module 52, which is configured to receivereported load information to the first network node according to theconfiguration information.

The second network node and the first network node belong to differentlogical nodes in a network.

In an embodiment, the first network node may be a network node in whichthe control plane is located, the second network node may be a networknode in which the user plane is located, and the control plane and theuser plane may be the control plane and the user plane of the samenetwork element or the control plane and the user plane of the samesystem, or the control plane and the user plane of different objects.

It is to be noted that the various modules described above may beimplemented by software or hardware. Implementation by hardware may, butmay not necessarily, be performed in the following manners: the variousmodules described above are located in a same processor, or the variousmodules described above are located in different processors in anycombination form.

The 5G user services required by the different quality of service (QoSs)and the unbalanced user service physical distribution have differentrequirements for network deployment and data transmission performance ofthe 5G network. These data services of different types are ofteninterleaved, or exploded at a local hotspot area, so that the currentrelatively closed network architecture is unable to efficiently supportvarious 5G scenarios. Therefore, on the basis of the classifications ofthe first element network and the second network element, the controlplane (CP) and the user plane (UP) in the first network element need tobe physically divided (it is noted: a CP function set and a UP functionset have been divided logically, but are physically integrated into asingle network element) by comprehensively considering from thetransmission latency, load balancing, multi-manufacturer deviceinteroperability and deployment cost at the same time, so that the CPand the UP are able to be deployed in different geographical positions,and may be configured independently, and resource expansion and functionupgrading can be performed on the CP and UP independently, thereby moreflexibly and efficiently satisfying requirements of various 5G services.

In a 5G network, when one CP is connected to multiple UPs at the sametime, the traffic loads carried by respective UPs are different. Whenthe traffic of a certain UP is overloaded, the CP needs to balance partof overloaded traffic of the UP to other UPs to achieve load balancingof the entire network. In addition, when a new UE accesses to thenetwork, the CP needs to know a current load status of each UP andselect a most appropriate UP for the UE. Therefore, the CP acquires thetraffic load status from each UP to implement the load balancing of theentire network and fully exhibit the maximum performance of the network.The traffic load information here may include a hardware resource loadstatus, an NG-U interface and a F1-U interface bandwidth occupationpercentages, a network slice resource usage status, a physical resourceblock (PRB) usage status and so on.

Therefore, when the CP is connected to multiple UPs, the problem of howto acquire the traffic load status of each UP and coordinate themanagement needs to be solved as soon as possible to achieve loadbalancing and fully exhibit the maximum performance of the network.

Contents of an embodiment are applicable to the load informationinteraction problems related to the scenario of CP/UP network elementphysical separation in the 5G NR or other equivalent systems. Thelogical interface between CP/UP network element entities is called as anE1 interface.

A traffic load information interaction function of the E1 interfaceincludes initialization and reporting. A traffic load informationinteraction initialization process includes the following E1 wirelessaccess point (AP) messages: a traffic load information request message,a traffic load information response message; and a traffic loadinformation reporting function includes the following E1 AP message: atraffic load information updating message.

The solution in an embodiment includes: traffic load informationinitialization and traffic load information reporting.

Traffic load information initialization:

the CP initiates a traffic load request message, which includes, but isnot limited to, one or more of:

identification information of the CP, which may be a CP ID or IP addressinformation;

identification information of a target UP, which may be a UP ID or theIP address information;

indication information of a reporting manner for a traffic load of thetarget UP, the reporting manner may include, but is not limited to, thefollowing types: such as indicating to be a periodic reporting, anevent-triggered reporting, or a real-time reporting; when indicating tobe the periodic reporting, the indication information of the reportingmanner further includes: a reporting period; when indicating to be theevent-triggered reporting, the indication information of the reportingmanner further includes information such as an event type and anevent-related threshold and the like;

load reporting granularity information of the requested target UP, thereporting granularity may be of node-level, cell-level or UE-level; forexample, the node-level load information includes: a UP hardwareresource load status, a NG-U interface transmission bandwidth occupationpercentage, an F1-U interface transmission bandwidth occupationpercentage, etc; the cell-level load information includes: trafficinformation of all users in each cell currently supported by the UP, aresource usage status of each slice in each cell, the number and/ortype(s) of DRBs currently established in each cell, and the number ofactive users in each cell; the UE-level load information includes:traffic information of a current user.

A load object of the requested target UP includes, but not limited to,one or more of:

the hardware resource load status;

the NG-U interface transmission bandwidth occupation percentage;

the F1-U interface transmission bandwidth occupation percentage;

resource usage information corresponding to each slice;

the number of DRBs currently established by the UP;

the number of active users of the UP; or user traffic information.

After receiving the traffic load request message, the UP sends thetraffic load request response message to the CP according to the currenttraffic load information. The traffic load request response messageincludes, but is not limited to, one or more of:

identification information of the CP, which may be the CP ID or IPaddress information;

identification information of the UP, which may be the ID or the IPaddress information; or a list of measurement objects able to besupported by the UP in a measurement request, and a list of measurementobjects unable to be measured currently.

If the UP is unable to initialize any traffic load information describedabove, the traffic load request failure message is sent by the UP to theCP, which includes, but is not limited to:

identification information of the CP, which may be the CP ID or IPaddress information;

identification information of the UP, which may be the ID or the IPaddress information; and

a failure cause value.

Traffic Load Information Reporting:

The UP reports traffic load information according to the configurationinformation in the received traffic load initialization message, thetraffic load information includes, but is not limited to:

identification information of the CP, which may be the CP ID or IPaddress information;

identification information of the UP, which may be the ID or the IPaddress information;

load reporting granularity information of the UP, the reportinggranularity may be of node-level, cell-level or UE-level; for example,the node-level load information includes: a UP hardware resource loadstatus, a NG-U interface transmission bandwidth occupation percentage,an F1-U interface transmission bandwidth occupation percentage, etc.;the cell-level load information includes: traffic information of allusers in each cell currently supported by the UP, a resource usagestatus of each slice in each cell, the number and/or type(s) of dataresource bearers (DRBs which are between the terminal and the basestation) currently established in each cell, and the number of activeusers of each cell; the UE-level load information includes: trafficinformation of the current user.

Load object measurement reporting of the UP includes, but not limitedto:

the hardware resource load status;

the NG-U interface transmission bandwidth occupation percentage;

the F1-U interface transmission bandwidth occupation percentage;

resource usage information corresponding to each slice;

the number of DRBs currently established by the UP;

the number of active users of the UP; or user traffic information.

The CP selects an appropriate UP for a newly accessed user to providedata transmission services according to the load information reported bythe UPs, or user data on the current UP may be migrated to another UPwith a light load, so the current UP may continuously provide servicesto the UE.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a relationship among a CP of a firstnetwork element, a UP of the first network element and a second networkelement according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The CP andUP are respectively located in two different CUs, implementing theseparation of user plane data and control plane data. For ease ofdescription, an interface between the first network element and thesecond network element is an F1AP interface, and the interface betweenthe CP and the UP is an E1 interface.

An embodiment may further include the following:

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of initialization of a traffic load reportinginitiated by a CP provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

A traffic load request message

the direction is CP→UP.

The traffic load request message includes, but is not limited to:

identification information of the CP, which may be a CP ID or IP addressinformation;

identification information of a target UP, which may be a UP ID or theIP address information;

indication information of a reporting manner for a traffic load of thetarget UP, the reporting manner may include, but are not limited to, thefollowing types: such as indicating to be a periodic reporting, anevent-triggered reporting, or a real-time reporting; when indicating tobe the periodic reporting, the indication information of the reportingmanner further includes: a reporting period; when indicating to be theevent-triggered reporting, the indication information of the reportingmanner further includes information such as an event type and anevent-related threshold and the like;

load reporting granularity information of the requested target UP, thereporting granularity may be the node level, the cell level or the UElevel; for example, the node level load information includes: a UPhardware resource load status, a NG-U interface transmission bandwidthoccupation percentage, a F1-U interface transmission bandwidthoccupation percentage, etc; the cell level load information includes:traffic information of all users in each cell currently supported by theUP, a resource usage status of each slice in each cell, the numberand/or type of DRBs currently established in each cell, and the numberof active users of each cell; the UE-level load information includes:traffic information of the current user.

A load object of the requested target UP includes, but not limited to,one or more of: the hardware resource load status;

the NG-U interface transmission bandwidth occupation percentage;

the F1-U interface transmission bandwidth occupation percentage;

resource usage information corresponding to each slice;

the number of DRBs currently established by the UP;

the number of active users of the UP; or

user traffic information;

The traffic load request response message:

the direction is UP→CP.

The traffic load request response message includes, but is not limitedto:

identification information of the CP, which may be the CP ID or IPaddress information;

identification information of the UP, which may be the ID or the IPaddress information;

a list of measurement objects able to be supported by the UP in ameasurement request, and a list of measurement objects unable to bemeasured currently.

A traffic load request failure message:

the direction is UP→CP.

The traffic load request failure message includes, but is not limitedto:

identification information of the CP, which may be the CP ID or IPaddress information;

identification information of the UP, which may be the ID or the IPaddress information; and

a failure cause value.

FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a traffic load reporting provided byan embodiment of the present disclosure.

A traffic load information reporting message:

the direction is UP→CP.

The traffic load information reporting message includes, but is notlimited to:

identification information of the CP, which may be the CP ID or IPaddress information;

identification information of the UP, which may be the ID or the IPaddress information;

load reporting granularity information of the UE, the reportinggranularity may be of node-level, cell-level or UE-level; for example,the node-level load information includes: a UP hardware resource loadstatus, a NG-U interface transmission bandwidth occupation percentage,an F1-U interface transmission bandwidth occupation percentage, etc; thecell-level load information includes: traffic information of all usersin each cell currently supported by the UP, a resource usage status ofeach slice in each cell, the number and/or type(s) of DRBs currentlyestablished in each cell, and the number of active users of each cell;the UE-level load information includes: traffic information of thecurrent user.

Load object measurement reporting of the UP includes, but not limitedto:

the hardware resource load status;

the NG-U interface transmission bandwidth occupation percentage;

the F1-U interface transmission bandwidth occupation percentage;

resource usage information corresponding to each slice;

the number of DRBs currently established by the UP;

the number of active users of the UP; or

user traffic information.

The CP selects an appropriate UP for a newly accessed user to providedata transmission services according to the load information reported bythe UPs, or user data on the current UP may be migrated to another UPwith a light load, so the current UP may continuously provide servicesto the UE.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a storagemedium which is configured to store program codes for executing thesteps described below.

In S1, a load request message is sent to a second network node, wherethe load request message is used for indicating configurationinformation used by the second network node in reporting loadinformation to the first network node.

In S2, the load information reported by the second network node isreceived according to the configuration information.

In an embodiment, the storage medium may include, but is not limited to,at least one of: a USB disk, an ROM, an RAM, a mobile hard disk, amagnetic disk, an optical disk or any medium capable of storing programcodes.

In an embodiment, a processor performs, according to the program codesstored in the storage medium: sending a load request message to a secondnetwork node, where the load request message is used for indicatingconfiguration information used by the second network node in reportingload information to the first network node; receiving the loadinformation reported by the second network node according to theconfiguration information.

Apparently, it should be understood by those skilled in the art thateach of the above-mentioned modules or steps of the present disclosuremay be implemented by a general computing apparatus, the modules orsteps may be concentrated on a single computing apparatus or distributedon a network composed of multiple computing apparatuses, andalternatively, the modules or steps may be implemented by program codesexecutable by the computing apparatus, so that the modules or steps maybe stored in a storage apparatus and executed by the computingapparatus. In some circumstances, the illustrated or described steps maybe executed in sequences different from those described herein, or themodules or steps may be made into various integrated circuit modulesseparately, or multiple modules or steps therein may be made into asingle integrated circuit module for implementation. In this way, thepresent disclosure is not limited to any specific combination ofhardware and software.

The above are only specific embodiments of the present disclosure andare not intended to limit the present invention. It is easy for thoseskilled in the art to conceive modifications or substitutions within thetechnical scope of the present invention. Any modifications, equivalentreplacements, improvements and the like within the spirit and principleof the disclosure shall fall within the scope of protection of thedisclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A base station, comprising: at least oneprocessor configured to: send, at a centralized unit (CU) of the basestation, a load request message to a distributed unit (DU) of the basestation, wherein the load request message is configured to make arequest for the DU to report load information to the CU, and wherein theload request message indicates a load object of the load information towhich the DU is requested to report; and receive, at the CU from the DU,the load information; wherein the DU and the CU belong to differentlogical nodes in a network; wherein the load object includes resourceusage information corresponding to each slice of a cell.
 2. The basestation of claim 1, wherein the load object includes at least one of: ahardware resource load status of the DU or a number of active users ofthe DU.
 3. The base station of claim 1, wherein after sending the loadrequest message, the at least one processor configured to receive, atthe CU from the DU, a load request response message, wherein the loadrequest response message indicates that the request is completed.
 4. Thebase station of claim 3, wherein the load request response messageincludes a measurement identification (ID).
 5. The base station of claim1, wherein after sending the load request message, the at least oneprocessor configured to receive, at the CU from the DU, a load requestfailure message, wherein the load request failure message indicates thatthe request fails.
 6. The base station of claim 5, wherein the loadrequest failure message includes at least one of: a measurementidentification (ID), or a cause value for failure of the request.
 7. Thebase station of claim 1, wherein the load information comprises ahardware resource load status of the DU.
 8. The base station of claim 1,wherein the load information comprises at least one of the resourceusage information corresponding to each slice of the cell, or a numberof active users of the cell.
 9. A base station, comprising: at least oneprocessor configured to: receive, at a distributed unit (DU) of the basestation, from a centralized unit (CU) of the base station, a loadrequest message, wherein the load request message is configured torequest the DU to report load information to the CU, and wherein theload request message indicates a load object of the load information towhich the DU is requested to report; and send, from the DU to the CU,the load information; wherein the DU and the CU belong to differentlogical nodes in a network; wherein the load object includes resourceusage information corresponding to each slice of a cell.
 10. The basestation of claim 9, wherein the load object includes at least one of: ahardware resource load status of the DU or a number of active users ofthe DU.
 11. The base station of claim 9, wherein after receiving theload request message, the at least one processor configured to send, atthe DU to the CU, a load request response message, wherein the loadrequest response message indicates that the request is completed. 12.The base station of claim 11, wherein the load request response messageincludes a measurement identification (ID).
 13. The base station ofclaim 9, wherein after receiving the load request message, the at leastone processor configured to send, at the DU to the CU, a load requestfailure message, wherein the load request failure message indicates thatthe request fails.
 14. The base station of claim 13, wherein the loadrequest failure message includes at least one of: a measurementidentification (ID), or a cause value for failure of the request. 15.The base station of claim 9, wherein the load information comprises ahardware resource load status of the DU.
 16. The base station of claim9, wherein the load information comprises at least one of the resourceusage information corresponding to each slice of a cell, or a number ofactive users of the cell.